preparing for Christmas (part 1)

It really goes without saying but Christmas is our absolute favorite holiday around here. The excitement, anticipation, joy and cheer spreads all around our house and we try to soak up every bit of it. Add in two December birthdays and I feel like there is something to celebrate or do every single day. We start right after Thanksgiving and try to keep our old traditions alive while finding new things to do too.

First up....Black Friday shopping. We aren't the crazy, "get up at midnight to stand in line outside for a tv" type of people but we do enjoy getting up to get an early start. Actually we've found if we leave around 7am all the crazies have gone home but the normal shoppers are still asleep so the mall is truly empty! Matt and I usually go in the morning (this year we had a cute little baby tag along!) and then his mom and I head out in the afternoon. It makes for a long day but so fun. I love our tradition and getting to check off most gifts on my list.

 We added a new adventure this year and I think it may just be repeated next year too! We went to Watson's Nursery to visit the reindeer. I was worried the kids would be a little bored and probably break something as we looked around but it turned out to be so much fun! First we wandered through the shop adoring all the new Christmas decor.

 Then we headed over to visit the reindeer. Carter was a little sad Rudolph wasn't there but watching them eat a Christmas tree was pretty fun.

 Then we discovered they had a scavenger hunt designed for all the kids who visited. There were 4 clues that the kids had to hunt for, mark their cards and then get the next clue. The kids loved searching the nursery inside and out for the clues, such a great idea!

 At the end of the scavenger hunt they got to write letters to Santa and mail them in his personal mailbox. There was a spot for your name and address so Santa could write you back. I couldn't believe it when 2 days before Christmas the kids both got letters in the mail from Santa! They were even personalized based on what they wrote in their letters. So fun and just added to the magic of the season.

 The next day we came home, threw our stuff out of the car, bundled up, made hot cocoa and left to cut down our Christmas tree. We hadn't planned to go for another week but after looking at the weather report we decided it was better to go when it was freezing rather than wet and muddy.

 When we parked the car we saw the perfect tree about 20 feet away. But just to be sure it was "the one" we searched for about 20 minutes before coming back to our original favorite.

 Carter always loves helping Matt cut down the tree.

 The kids got to write another letter to Santa, although this time it was more like pictures of things they liked!

We came home, got the tree up and decided we were WAY too tired to decorate it. But, Carter's tradition is to put the star on top first so we let him do that right away. Lifting up a 68 lb. child isn't so easy anymore!

 The next morning the kids eagerly woke up ready to decorate. Other than putting our few fragile ornaments near the top of the tree I let the kids have the freedom to put stuff where ever they wanted. And they did such a great job! I always love looking at each ornament and remembering where and when we got it. The kids love hearing the stories too so it's one of my favorite days each year. And little Simon learning how to sit up made it that much more special.

 Finally I had to put up our annual Christmas Advent Tree. We have a little different tradition than most families and I'm not really sure how I came up with the idea but we all sort of love it. It's a super homemade tree made out of brown butcher paper with little ornaments scattered about. Each morning the kids get to find the date, flip up the ornament and see what special Christmas activity we'll do that day to celebrate or prepare for Christmas. Some are big events like breakfast with Santa or Snowflake Lane and some are more simple like drink hot cocoa, drive to look at lights or make a Christmas craft. Either way it's a fun way to be intentional about Christmas each day of the month.

 One of our favorite Christmas crafts is always making our marshmallow snowmen. The kids love sneaking marshmallows and creating their own snowman each year. I love how they turned out!

 Whew....all of this happened during the first few days of December. Stay tuned to see how the rest of the month turned out!